The Third Mirror
by Whatsthenews
Summary: Self Explanitory for those who have read the first two books. In short it is the story of Vanessa as she explores the mysteries of the mirror world meeting both old and new characters.
1. Chapter 1

"Nessa we need to talk"

The scene played over and over again in her head as she drove home. Her tears blurred her vision, making the road in front of her a solid blur.

"I have been thinking about us and the future."

Helpless anger filled her as she envisioned Devin's pleading green eyes. Pleading for forgiveness.

_Forget him Vanessa! Pull yourself together. _If only she could.

"With this new job I will be out of town all the time… I-It wont be fair to you for me to be gone so often." His sentences were halting, as if he were searching for the words that would be most likely to break her heart. " I… I… think we should make a clean split, I mean cut… I mean… I think that my feelings for you doesn't match the… and umm"

He looked down to the ground with those perfect green eyes, afraid to look her in the eye. It was alright, she had gotten his message. Helpless rage, sadness, and self doubt filled Vanessa's mind as she turned away from her ex. She allowed her instincts to take over and she decided to run from him, run from the pain, and run to hide her tears.

_Vanessa, you should have fought for your man, why couldn't you have said something you coward!_

Vanessa's driving was becoming more and more reckless as she neared her street. Weaving though traffic she had only one though in her head, to get as far away as she could from Devin and the pain that he had caused.

As her apartment came into sight, she sped up, ignoring the dirty looks and names she was called as she cut other drivers off. She could only think of her escape, her grandmother's final gift to her only grandchild. Scarcely ever removed from its box.

Distracted and distraught as she was, she almost missed the turn into the apartment's parking lot. In making such a sharp and rapid turn Vanessa skimmed the nearby light post, scratching the paint off the side of her car. Half mad, she promptly exited her clown car, as Devon calls it.

_Stop thinking about him! _She shouted at herself. Memories flooded her head, their first meeting at the college, the first date where he decided to recite romantic poetry Klingon, their first kiss…

_No no no NO!_ Vanessa slammed the car door, leaving her clown car half blocking the parking lot entrance. She ran for the safety of her apartment, three floors up.

Out of breath, Vanessa fumbled with her keys trying to fit them into the lock. As soon as she heard the click she burst through the door, heading straight for her closet. She searched for the gift. The mirror.

Vanessa never had the courage to hang the eerily beautiful artifact fore every time she looked into the dark warped glass she could sense the strangeness of the two moons on her skin. This world had been an interest, a hobby… and now an escape. She took a brief time staring at the beautifully wrought daffodils that encircled the mirror.

_ Daffodils_ she pondered. New life, New Birth… She pressed her hand on the dark glass as her grandmother taught her and slipped away. Her door still unlocked.


	2. Chapter 2

Vanessa's world melted around her, the four walls around her solidified into the rock of an underground cave. She was surrounded by darkness, but it was the sudden rush of cold air that Vanessa was shocked into reality.

_How in the world could you have forgotten the cave!_ Vanessa chided herself. It had been so long since she had crossed over. Only once since her grandmother died. Fear had kept her from visiting this new world on her own. She feared leaving the comfort of her world, her friends, her home. She feared the utter newness of the light of the two moons.

Even when she went with her grandmother, she had never ventured far into this strange world. The cave's mouth lead to a dense forest with terrors that would fill the nightmares of any little girl. Crows with shimmering wings that would tear out your eyes if you looked at them for too long, trees that slipped poison into your veins as you touched them. Horrible dangers filled this world, and her grandmother loved it as much as her grandfather and father hated it.

She felt around the cave, just underneath where she assumed the mirror was located until her hands found a metal tube. Fumbling with the gigantic flashlight, she found the switch and illuminated the three walls of the cavern. It was an old flashlight, probably from the 1970's or 80's, that her grandmother had left long ago.

Covered in layers of grime and dust lay a few mementos that her grandmother left behind. In one corner there was a small stack of books that barely reached up to Vanessa's knees. Each journal was filled to the brim with her grandmother's musings. Vanessa was assaulted with nostalgia as she studied her grandmother's legacy.

The oldest book in the stack was written when her grandmother was 19 years old. Upon opening the slim volume, she stopped to study the perfect handwriting on the page opposite of the cover.

Property of Miss Virginia Carnavale

This volume detailed Virginia's first impression of this strange world. It contained most of the lessons concerning the dangers of this world. It was the volume she would take as she took a glimpse at the world behind the mirror.

Without much thought she picked up the book in one hand and the flashlight in the other, humming the march her grandmother used to navigate out into the open,

_Left, Left, Left, Right, Left_

Five tunnels in ten minutes.

As she started seriously making her way towards the mouth of the cave, Vanessa started doubting the sanity of her plan.

_What the hell are you doing Vanessa!_ Her mind screamed at her. _You can't just run away from your problems, you will need to face your ex sometime._

_I need to get away from it all just for a day._ A less rational part of her mind answered.

It felt better listening to that part of her mind. It felt good. It felt easy. She compromised with herself;

_I cannot hide from the pain, but I can step away for a small while. Somewhere where no one can contact me, somewhere I can sort my thoughts._

Reason tried to argue, but before it could remind her of the dangers, her fears, and her grandmother's warnings; it was interrupted by the light shining from the mouth of the tunnel, a couple hundred yards away. Now the wind brought new smells of a strange world to her senses, and excitement drowned out the doubt as she ran to gaze upon the world that she had not seen for nine years.

With her reason properly shut away into some distant corner of her mind, she made her way towards the light of the late afternoon.


End file.
